Harry Borrer Kirk

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Harry Borrer Kirk (9 March 1859 – 1948) was a New Zealand school inspector, biologist and university professor.

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Public life

He was born in Coventry, Warwickshire, England on 9 March 1859 to Thomas Kirk and Sarah Jane Mattocks, the family emigrated to New Zealand arriving in Auckland on 9 February 1863 and Wellington in 1874 when Thomas Kirk was appointed to Wellington College. Harry studied for University of New Zealand exams at home, gaining a BA in 1882 and a MA 1883, after which he joined the Department of Education first as a clerk and then as an inspector of native schools. As an inspector, he spend almost two decades travelling the country, collecting botanical specimens as he went. [1]

Coventry City and Metropolitan borough in England

Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England.

Thomas Kirk (botanist) New Zealand botanist and horticulturist

Thomas Kirk was an English-born botanist, teacher, public servant, writer and churchman who moved to New Zealand with his wife and four children in late 1862. The New Zealand government commissioned him in 1884 to compile a report on the indigenous forests of the country and appointed him as chief conservator of forests the following year. He published 130 papers in botany and plants including The Durability of New Zealand Timbers, The Forest Flora of New Zealand and Students' Flora of New Zealand.

Auckland Metropolitan area in North Island, New Zealand

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As was typical at the time, Kirk saw Pākehā education as a force for 'elevating' Māori. [2] The 1880 Native Schools Code held that te reo Māori was only to be used to 'learn English more effectively' and Kirk stated in a report:

Pākehā is a Māori-language term for New Zealanders of European descent. The term has also recently come to refer inclusively either to fair-skinned persons, or to any non-Māori New Zealander. Papa'a has a similar meaning in Cook Islands Māori.

Māori people Indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand

The Māori are the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand. Māori originated with settlers from eastern Polynesia, who arrived in New Zealand in several waves of canoe voyages some time between 1250 and 1300. Over several centuries in isolation, the Polynesian settlers developed a unique culture, with their own language, a rich mythology, and distinctive crafts and performing arts. Early Māori formed tribal groups based on eastern Polynesian social customs and organisation. Horticulture flourished using plants they introduced; later, a prominent warrior culture emerged.

I think the teacher should cease to use Maori in school when the necessary explanation can be made in English. It is quite likely that the children will readily understand instruction given in Maori and that they will make the greater progress in certain subjects, such as Writing and Arithmetic, but they will not trouble themselves to understand English if the teacher will speak Maori. It is to be borne in mind that English is not only an important subject in itself but that it is a 'key' subject to others.

— Harry Borrer Kirk, The Provision of Education Services to East Coast Maori. John Barrington, August 2007. quote taken from 'Inspection Report, Tikitiki, 15 March 1889.BAAA 1001/640c. ANZ-A. DB.'

In 1903 Kirk was appointed inaugural chair of biology to Victoria College (now Victoria University of Wellington) [3] and he largely devoted the rest of his life to building up the biology capabilities of the university. [1] [4] [5]

Victoria University of Wellington public university in New Zealand

Victoria University of Wellington is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand.

During the First World War he produced several innovations in military camps for to reduce fly contamination, [6] and he is said to have refused a Captain's commission. [7]

Family life

Kirk married Annie Lamont [1] (or La Monte [8] ) on 10 July 1885 in Dunedin. They had two children Ethelwin Gladys and Hilda Gyneth, Kirk lived with them after Annie's death in 1927. After he retired in 1944, he was cared for by his unmarried sister Cybele Ethel Kirk, [9] who had been active, along with their sister Lily May Kirk, [10] in the women's suffrage movement. [1] The family were active in the Baptist Union of New Zealand, [9] [10] with Harry being a listed as a Mortgagee in the Baptist Union Incorporation Act 1923 [11]

Cybele Ethel Kirk Temperance and welfare worker, teacher

Cybele Ethel Kirk was a New Zealand temperance and welfare worker, suffragist, and teacher.

Womens suffrage in New Zealand Womens voting rights in New Zealand

Women's suffrage in New Zealand was an important political issue in the late nineteenth century. In early colonial New Zealand, as in European societies, women were excluded from any involvement in politics. Public opinion began to change in the latter half of the nineteenth century, however, and after years of effort by women's suffrage campaigners, led by Kate Sheppard, New Zealand became the first self-governing colony in the world in which all women had the right to vote in parliamentary elections.

Baptist Union of New Zealand

The Baptist Union of New Zealand is an association of Baptist churches in the country of New Zealand.

Legacy

Two buildings on the Kelburn campus of Victoria University of Wellington are named after Kirk, called the Kirk Building and the Old Kirk Building [12]

Positions

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Salmon, John T. "Harry Borrer Kirk". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography . Ministry for Culture and Heritage . Retrieved 23 April 2017.
  2. ↑ TE AUTE AND WANGANUI SCHOOL TRUSTS (REPORT AND EVIDENCE OF THE ROYAL COMMISSION ON THE). Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1906 Session II, G-05, page 100-101
  3. ↑ http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz//tm/scholarly/tei-BarVict-c1.html
  4. ↑ "Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand [electronic resource]" . Retrieved 22 October 2014.
  5. ↑ "Harry Borrer Kirk" . Retrieved 22 October 2014.
  6. ↑ "In Memoriam" . Retrieved 22 October 2014.
  7. ↑ "Harry Borrer Kirk" . Retrieved 22 October 2014.
  8. ↑ "Education Department" . Retrieved 22 October 2014.
  9. 1 2 Williams, Dale Ashenden. "Cybele Ethel Kirk". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography . Ministry for Culture and Heritage . Retrieved 23 April 2017.
  10. 1 2 Porter, Frances. "Lily May Atkinson". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography . Ministry for Culture and Heritage . Retrieved 23 April 2017.
  11. ↑ "Baptist Union Incorporation Act 1923" . Retrieved 22 October 2014.
  12. ↑ http://www.victoria.ac.nz/about/victorias-story/history/campus-plaques/victoria-campus-plaques.pdf

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